- ADP: US private payrolls rose by 98,000 in June, less than expected
Source: CNBC
“Private sector employment grew by a seasonally adjusted 98,000 for the month, down from 122,000 in May and a bit below the forecast for 110,000, ADP reported Wednesday. Nearly half the job creation in June — 48,000 — came from the education and health services sector, a consistent leader for payroll growth. All but 2,000 of the new jobs came from services. Annual pay gains for those staying in their jobs held steady at 4.4% while edging higher to 6.6% for job switchers.” (07/01/26)
- Judge orders Pentagon to lift policy that New York Times journalists be accompanied by an escort
Source: Seattle Times
“A federal judge has ordered the Defense Department to temporarily halt its requirement that New York Times journalists be accompanied by an official escort, in another setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict media access at the Pentagon. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman in Washington said that policy violated the First Amendment and he issued a preliminary ruling Tuesday barring the requirement while The New York Times continues its legal battle against the department’s restrictions. The order did not specify whether journalists from other organizations would also get relief from that policy.” (07/01/26)
- Germany: Prosecutors Arrest Man Accused of Ordering Killings During Rwanda Genocide
Source: US News & World Report
“German prosecutors arrested a German-Rwandan national on suspicion of being an accomplice to genocide and 25 counts of murder during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda, they said in a statement on Wednesday. The suspect, identified only as Innocent S under German privacy rules, is accused of ordering the deaths of 25 Tutsis on five separate occasions while serving as an assistant to the mayor of Kayove in northwestern Rwanda. In one instance, the suspect is accused of personally taking part in the killing by stabbing a victim in the chest with a knife, the prosecutors said.” (07/01/26)
- Russia: Regime shuts railway border crossings with Finland, Estonia and Latvia
Source: Politico
“Russia on Wednesday shut down traffic through some of its last remaining railway border crossings with the European Union. The move, announced in a government order on Tuesday evening, suspends all movement of persons, vehicles, goods, and cargo by rail with Finland, Estonia and Latvia from July 1. The Foreign Ministry has formally notified the Baltic nations of the decision, but offered no explanation for the ‘temporary’ closures, nor any indication of when they might be lifted.” (07/01/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-suspends-railway-border-crossings-finland-baltic-neighbors
- Trump says first-ever GOP midterm convention to be held in Texas
Source: United Press International
“President Donald Trump has announced that the Republican Party will hold a midterm convention, an unprecedented development seemingly aimed at mobilizing the GOP base ahead of November’s midterm elections. The convention highlights the importance Trump has placed on the midterms, framing Republican control as necessary to protecting his presidency and the implementation of his America First agenda. He has warned Republicans that if they lose the House, Democrats would seek to impeach him and use their investigative powers to probe him, his family and other GOP officials. Trump announced the convention Tuesday on his Truth Social media platform, saying it will be held Sept. 9-10 in Dallas, Texas.” (07/01/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/07/01/Trump-midterm-convention-texas/6961782891664/
- Trump takes inaugural flight on plane “donated” by Qatari regime as bribe
Source: Fox News
“President Donald Trump is taking his first presidential flight aboard a newly retrofitted Boeing 747 serving as Air Force One on Wednesday, traveling to Medora, North Dakota, to mark the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and promote a conservation push tied to America’s 250th birthday. … Trump is traveling aboard a $400 million Boeing 747-8i donated by the government of Qatar and refurbished for presidential use [and will magically become his “presidential library’s” property later]. (07/01/26)
- Defying Pope Leo XIV and risking schism, traditionalists go ahead with Latin Mass consecrations
Source: ABC News
“A breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics on Wednesday directly defied Pope Leo XIV by celebrating an ancient Latin Mass to consecrate four bishops without his consent, dismissing the threat of schism and excommunication and justifying their actions as a ‘sacred duty’ to defend the Catholic faith. … According to church law, the mere act of consecrating a bishop without a papal mandate incurs the harshest penalty in the Catholic Church: automatic excommunication for the four new bishops and the bishop administering the rite. It also amounts to a schismatic act, or an intentional rupture of the unity of the Catholic Church.” (07/01/26)
- Italy displays paintings from an ancient Etruscan tomb, its latest cultural acquisition
Source: SFGate
“Italy on Tuesday put on display one of the best known examples of Etruscan painting, panels from a tomb that it acquired for 15 million euros ($17 million) in the Culture Ministry’s buying spree of big-ticket pieces of the country’s cultural heritage. The ministry announced in May that it had acquired the fresco panels, dating from the 4th century, from members of the Torlonia family, one of Italy’s ancient noble families whose vast collection of antiquity has long been kept out of the public domain. The Francois Tomb was discovered in 1857 by the French archaeologist Alessandro Francois in Vulci, on land owned by the Torlonia family. The frescoes were detached from the necropolis in 1863 and became part of the Torlonia private collection, while the contents of the tomb were divided up among Francois, colleagues and the family.” (06/30/26)
- US regime removes curbs on Anthropic’s latest Fable and Mythos AI models
Source: Reuters
“Anthropic said on Tuesday that the U.S. Commerce Department lifted export controls on its most advanced Fable and Mythos AI models, less than three weeks after the company was ordered to suspend their access over national security risks. Washington has stepped up oversight of new model releases to identify potential threats amid concerns that advanced AI models could be misused by military intelligence in China, Russia or other countries of concern. … Anthropic said the June 12 export-control order followed Amazon researchers reporting a way to bypass Fable 5’s safeguards, allowing the model to identify software vulnerabilities and, in one case, generate code demonstrating how one vulnerability could be exploited. Anthropic said it has now implemented a new safeguard that blocks the behavior described in the report.” (07/01/26)
- Australia: Regime sues Amazon for making allegedly unfair contracts with subscribers
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Australia’s consumer watchdog has sued Amazon, claiming the tech giant introduced adverts in Prime Video using allegedly unfair contract terms. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said Amazon had broken consumer protection law by making the unfair contracts with over a million annual subscribers between November 2023 and August 2025. ‘Consumers who wanted to avoid ads were left with no choice but to pay more to maintain the service they’d initially signed up for,’ ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said. … ‘Those contracts included five terms permitting [Amazon Australia] to unilaterally make materially adverse changes to its services (including, but not limited to, Prime Video) and the terms governing those services, without any contractual entitlement for subscribers to receive refunds or other meaningful redress, the ACCC said.” [editor’s note: No one was forced to accept the contract, and the changes were within the terms of the contract. Nothing “unfair” about that – TLK] (07/01/26)
- Trump reports $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency income in government filing
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A new government report has shown that United States President Donald Trump made millions from cryptocurrency and settlements with media companies last year, raising questions about possible conflicts of interest. On Tuesday, the US Office of Government Ethics released annual financial disclosure forms for both Trump and his vice president, JD Vance. One 927-page document itemises all of Trump’s reported assets and income for 2025. They include more than $1.4bn from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures. Trump received more than $500m from World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture he and his sons co-founded. The president also reported another $635m from the sale of his $TRUMP meme coins.” (06/30/26)
- Trump’s War in the Middle East Has One Clear Winner: China
Source: Mother Jones
by Amy Hawkins“China has emerged as the sole winner in Asia from the strait of Hormuz crisis, according to a report published on Tuesday. The report by the geopolitical consulting firm Asia Group concluded that China had weathered the storm of the global commodities crisis resulting from the closure of the Middle Eastern waterway, and also stood to gain from the economic and geopolitical trends sparked by the wider conflict. … China’s electric vehicle exports soared by more than 110 percent in May compared with the previous year, while solar shipments in April increased by 60 percent.” (07/01/26)
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/07/trump-iran-war-middle-east-winner-china-clean-energy/
- Let’s Reject Assimilation Nonsense
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“Among the silliest arguments employed by proponents of America’s socialist (i.e., central planning) system of immigration controls — and the deadly and ruthless immigration police state that comes with it — is the assimilation argument. Immigration statists say that under a free-market immigration system — that is, one based on open borders — there is a risk that immigrants won’t ‘assimilate’ into the general population. Therefore, immigration statists argue, it is necessary that the federal government be in charge of the movements of people into the United States so that it will accept only those who will be likely to ‘assimilate.’ Really? For one thing, what does ‘assimilate’ mean?” (07/01/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/07/01/lets-reject-assimilation-nonsense/
- 250 years later, free speech is still revolutionary
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Angel Eduardo“The First Amendment was ratified in 1791, guaranteeing that Congress shall make no law abridging our freedom to speak, publish, assemble, worship, and petition the government. But as anyone with a passing knowledge of our history knows, the fight was far from over then. In fact, it was only just beginning — and Philadelphia was ground zero for much of it.” (07/01/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/250-years-later-free-speech-is-still
- The Hierarchy of Compassion: Who Counts?
Source: Town Hall
by Joe Abraham“Pete Buttigieg and his family should never have endured a malicious false report that brought police and Child Protective Services to their home, temporarily separated him from his young children, and forced his family through a needless ordeal. Authorities quickly determined the allegations were baseless. The bipartisan condemnation that followed was appropriate. Political leaders from across the country spoke with one voice. Commentators expressed outrage. The message was unmistakable: there are lines that should never be crossed. They were right. But watching the response unfold left me asking a question I have carried since my daughter Katie was killed. Why does our political class know exactly how to respond when one of its own is harmed, yet struggle to summon the same moral urgency when ordinary Americans are actually buried?” (07/01/26)
- Socialism: Better Never to Have Been
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“If I were a socialist, I’d be desperate to deny that the Nazis were socialists. Why? Well, it’s bad enough that: * The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics turned out to be a nightmarish totalitarian despotism, a dystopia of mass slavery and mass murder. * The USSR, by conquest and imitation, spawned dozens of additional nightmarish totalitarian despotisms. * These despotisms included the jaw-dropping hellscape of Maoist China, the world’s most populous country at the time. Yet as long as Nazi Germany was not socialist or even anti-socialist, the socialist can find solace in the fact that the Soviet Union was the primary agent in the defeat of an even more nightmarish totalitarian despotism.” (07/01/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/nazism-socialism-and-the-philosophy
- Defining presidential powers in a robust democracy
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Among the slew of decisions being released in the days before the United States Supreme Court adjourns for the summer, two focus on the key issue of presidential or executive power. Each ruling relates specifically to a U.S. president’s ability to remove officeholders in agencies established under acts of Congress. In Trump v. Slaughter, the court ruled 6-3 that the president can fire at will the heads or staff of independent regulatory agencies (in this case, the Federal Trade Commission). In Trump v. Cook, however, the court determined 5-4 that the president could not fire a governor of the Federal Reserve Board without cause or due process. On the surface, the two rulings seem to be in opposition to each other. Yet both underscore a defining characteristic of American democracy – the delicate yet shifting equilibrium among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches that underpins the business of governing.” (06/30/26)
- California Wealth Tax: Accountant’s Dream, Economist’s Nightmare
Source: Independent Institute
by Daniel Sánchez-Piñol“The California Billionaire Tax Act has qualified for the November 2026 ballot, promising a massive cash windfall for the state. Proponents confidently declare that it will yield around $100 billion. On paper the calculation seems a no-brainer. If you take the net worth of California’s billionaires from the Forbes list at the beginning of the year, roughly $2 trillion, and apply the proposed one-time 5 percent wealth tax, you land right around $100 billion. However, while the arithmetic is straightforward, the economics are shaky. A foundational principle of economics is that individuals respond to incentives. Apply this principle to California’s wealth tax scheme and a different picture emerges.” (07/01/26)
- So-Called “Moderate” Dems Must Stop Parroting Trump’s Red-Scare Rhetoric
Source: Common Dreams
by Miles Mogulescu“President Donald Trump used red-scare rhetoric to denounce the progressive winners in New York’s Democratic primary last week as ‘godless communists’. Rather than explaining that the progressives are not communists in the vein of the Soviet Union or communist China but social democrats in the vein of Scandinavia, a group of so-called ‘moderate’ Democratic politicians piled on to Trump’s red-baiting. Two days after the primaries, this group of 15 corporate Democrats (let’s just call them what they are) attacked the winning Democrats in an open letter drafted by Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York proclaiming, ‘we are capitalist, not socialist’. In an interview with the New York Times, Suozzi added ‘that message from Tuesday is not the message that I embrace’.” (07/01/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/democratic-party-moderates
- The Making of One-Nation Conservatism
Source: Law & Liberty
by Max Skjönsberg“One Nation Conservatives emphasize the paternalistic, socially cohesive, and pragmatic virtues of ‘Old England,’ in opposition to reforming free-marketeers and socialists alike, as a British version of centrism. They are the ones Margaret Thatcher called ‘wets,’ though even Thatcher’s ‘sons’ were affected by their force. When Miliband spoke of ‘One Nation’ in a Blue Labour voice, then-Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron launched his own version of Disraelian politics in the form of the ‘Big Society,’ which turned out to be, as the British would say, a damp squib. More recently, One Nation Conservatism has been pitched as an alternative to populism, though Brexit and Reform leader (and one-time Thatcherite) Nigel Farage appears now to have a stronger appeal with the working class, perhaps thanks to his echoing of Disraelian themes.” (07/01/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-making-of-one-nation-conservatism/
- Thin-Skinned Government Agents Threaten Yet Another Critic
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“Last week, two federal agents went to David Streever’s home in Rochester, New York, to warn him over a strongly worded email he sent to then-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) interim director Todd Lyons, according to Michelle Breidenbach of the Post-Standard. As such missives often do, Streever’s email evokes the Nazis, telling Lyons: ‘You are a monstrous human being and will go down in history as America’s Reinhard Heydrich, the butcher.’ It goes on to excoriate him over the protesters killed by federal agents in Minnesota and predicts, ‘you will torment yourself until your last day on Earth.’ The email is harsh. But at no point is it threatening. It’s the sort of message that public figures of all sorts receive and discard every day. Except that federal officials seem to be emulating the thin-skinned current president’s attitude towards criticism.” (07/01/26)
https://reason.com/2026/07/01/thin-skinned-government-agents-threaten-yet-another-critic/
- When Athletes Are the Commodity
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes“In 1990, Belgian footballer Jean Marc Bosman saw his contract expire and discovered something he did not expect: although he was no longer under contract, RC Liège still controlled his future. He had found a team in France willing to sign him, but Liège demanded a transfer fee the French club could not afford. Bosman had no contract, no salary, and no real way out. In practice, he remained tied to the club. His case would go on to change the football market and European sport forever. Across European football, a transfer system allowed clubs to retain control over players even after their contracts had ended. A player could be prevented from joining a new employer unless a transfer fee was paid, even when no contractual obligation remained. … Bosman challenged this system in court, and in 1995, the European Court of Justice ruled in his favor.” (07/01/26)
- Usual suspects wail about SCOTUS ruling upholding states’ rights to ban transgender athletes
Source: New York Post
by Michael Goodwin“The Supreme Court ruling that upholds states’ rights to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’ sports provoked wailing from the usual suspects. New York Attorney General Letitia James denounced what she called ‘cruel and discriminatory laws targeting the trans community’, and accused the court of deciding to continue on a ‘dangerous and harmful path’. Oh, please.” (06/30/26)
- We became the late 18th Century British. What now?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by David C Hendrickson“In the run-up to America’s 250th anniversary, we’ve witnessed a few amazing spectacles, but not much historical reflection. Insofar as discussions have addressed our history, attention has focused on American statesmen and warriors from back in the day. But there is more to be gained by looking from a different standpoint: that of Britain’s leaders at the time of the American revolution. They had an empire to run, as we now do, not a republic to create. Great Britain had achieved, by 1763, a position widely compared to Rome in its heyday. It had won the great contest with France over control of the interior of North America, gaining Canada and a secure claim to the Mississippi River in the Peace of Paris in 1763. But all was not well.” (07/01/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/america-independence-british-empire/
- The Ever-Shifting “Cultural Marxism”
Source: Liberal Currents
by Roz Milner“In recent years the American right’s been inverting phrases taken from the left, taking something that meant well and turning them into cliches. Triggered. Woke. Social justice warrior. Critical race theory. They use these as a shorthand to mock and belittle, while also reducing the left to something separate and less than. At the same time, these phrases are often ill-defined: what is woke, exactly? One may as well ask who leads the oft-cited but hard to find antifa organization. Once one starts looking at how they use these phrases to delegitimize the left, one sees the pattern all over the place: gender ideology, fake news, and perhaps most nefarious of all, cultural Marxism.” (07/01/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-ever-shifting-cultural-marxism/
- Stop Being Funny
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson“Speaking Sunday night at the Trump Kennedy Center, where he was receiving the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Bill Maher offered an excellent bit of advice for politicians who do not wish to be mocked: ‘Stop being funny.’ It is a simple thing, and a not-so-simple thing. When politicians are being ridiculous, Maher said, ‘I put them in jokes—jokes that work.’ Jokes that work is the key thing. It is axiomatic in comedy that the way to kill a joke is to explain it, but it is worth thinking about why and how Maher’s jokes, and other jokes about politicians, work. If politicians are to stop being funny, then they will need to answer the question: When are politicians funny? … Naked dishonesty in politicians is funny. So is incompetence. So is howling demagoguery. Quiet, unshowy competence is not very funny.” (07/01/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/bill-maher-politicians-humor/
- The Assault on Congress’s Anti-Monopoly Solution
Source: The American Prospect
by Sean M Flaim“When Congress passed the Sherman Act in 1890, John Sherman told the Senate, ‘If we will not endure a king as a political power, we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life’. The act intended to keep concentrated private power from becoming a sovereign authority unto itself. It lasted five years before the Supreme Court took it apart. In United States v. E.C. Knight (1895), the Court held that manufacturing was not commerce and therefore lay beyond the reach of federal antitrust law. The case concerned the American Sugar Refining Company, which by acquisition controlled more than 90 percent of the nation’s sugar refining capacity. The Court drew its commerce line precisely where the largest industrial concentration in the country sat, and the trust walked free.” (07/01/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/07/01/supreme-court-assault-on-congress-anti-monopoly-solution/
- The Defiant Republic: The Ideological Imperative of a Strong Iran
Source: Antiwar.com
by M Reza Behnam“The February 2026 Iran war cannot be understood as an isolated event; but rather the outcome of over four decades of coordinated American and Israeli efforts to contain and topple the Islamic Republic. Similarly, Iran’s ability to withstand the military onslaught and emerge victorious must also be situated within that historical context. After weeks of U.S-Israeli bombardment, Iran has shown not only that it has been able to withstand an assault by the world’s strongest militaries, but that it could successfully exact substantial military, geopolitical and economic costs on its adversaries. Despite suffering significant damage, and the martyrdom of senior military commanders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the state survived. Tehran’s ability to maintain institutional continuity and operational resilience despite intense pressures could ultimately reshape the geopolitical landscape of West Asia.” (07/01/26)
- The nanny state is sanitising Britain to death
Source: spiked
by James Dixon“The UK’s landmark Tobacco and Vapes Act, which became law in April this year (and has since been buried by a typically, and very modern, frenetic news cycle), was hailed as a triumph for public health. By permanently phasing out the legal sale of cigarettes to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009, it promises to create the world’s first ‘smoke-free generation’. It’s difficult (though not impossible) to object to this from a medical perspective. … But it’s important to look beyond the medical perspective to what this legislation represents. It is, perhaps, the clearest expression yet of the creeping sanitisation of Britain that has been underway over the past two to three decades.” (07/01/26)
- Birthright citizenship should never have been in question
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Erwin Chemerinsky“This should have been an easy case for the Supreme Court. When the Constitution was penned in 1787, the founders followed English law and determined that everyone born in the country was deemed a citizen. This was followed until the Supreme Court’s tragic 1857 decision in Dred Scott vs. Sandford, which held that enslaved individuals were property of their owners and that they were not U.S. citizens, even if they had been born in the country. The first sentence of the first section of the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868, was meant to expressly and unquestionably overrule this decision.” (06/30/26)
- So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 07/01/26
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“Book banning’s trial of the century w/ Anthony Aycock.” (07/01/26)
- Rising, 07/01/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on leftist candidates like Graham Platner and Darializa Avila Chevalier finding support among more affluent voters rather than the working class.” (07/01/26)
- Why Libertarians Should Care About Longevity: Self-Ownership and the Science of Living Longer
Source: Liberty International
“On Saturday 13 June, Liberty International gathered forty liberty-minded people from around the world for an online conversation on one of the most transformative scientific frontiers of our age — the growing possibility of living longer, healthier lives — examined through the lens of individual freedom.” (07/01/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 07/01/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Here Come The ‘Democratic Socialists’ – Should We Be Afraid?” (07/01/26)
- Reason Interview: Aaron Brown
Source: Reason
“How Statistics Become Propaganda.” (07/01/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/07/01/how-statistics-become-propaganda/
- The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen, 07/01/26
Source: The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen
“Fourth of July Special: Ken Burns on America’s 250th.” (07/01/26)
https://rosenjeffrey.substack.com/p/fourth-of-july-special-ken-burns
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 07/01/26
Source: The Dispatch
“The Declaration of Independence | Interview: Michael Auslin.” (07/01/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/the-declaration-of-independence-interview-michael-auslin/
- SolutionsWatch, 07/01/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“Photographs. Paintings. Editorial cartoons. Cover art. Memes. We are steeped every day of our lives in visual art. And who can doubt the profound effect that a particularly striking image can have on our psyche? Today, James explores the way art and imagery can be used to unlock minds and deprogram the masses with two practicing artists, Anthony Freda and Jordan Henderson.” (07/01/26)
- Cato Podcast, 06/30/26
Source: Cato Institute
“The Dangerous Push to Tax AI.” (06/30/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/dangerous-push-tax-ai
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 06/30/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Qatar Says No Direct US-Iran Talks, Israel Intensifies Military Operations in Gaza, and More.” (06/30/26)
- Show-Me Institute, 06/30/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“Why Stadium Deals Don’t Add Up with J.C. Bradbury.” (06/30/26)